My First Birth!

I have finally witnessed my first birth here in the Philippines! It was beautiful! Such a lovely birth! There was a shoulder dystocia, but only for two minutes. And so it was a birth with slight complications that turned out well! The family and mother were so calm even when things were difficult. This was their fifth child and she seemed overly calm during the two minutes of us pulling and prodding trying to get the babies stuck shoulder out of the birth canal, taking comfort in her previous experiences. Since this was my first time witnessing as a student, I was the official observer! I also took vital signs (bp-blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory, temperature, etc.) of both mother and baby, and I documented the birth and the statistics on all vital signs etc.! The mother thought it was lucky a lucky birth, because she was 35, and it was the midwife's 35th birthday, and the assistant midwife is 35, and the main midwife who is 37 weeks pregnant is 35. The baby's placenta (or life support; giver of life) was born at 2:35, and the baby weighed 3.5 kilos! I believe the birth was full of Lavished Upon Christ's Kindness! It was beautiful!

Before all this occurred all the midwives and I had devotionals in the back yard. We talked about some verses and prayed over each other butbut style (or Asian style, or whatever you want to call it. They called it butbut, which is one of the tribes near here), which means that everyone prayed at the same time. It is so wonderful to be with these women, that put God above everything else and make it a point to have Him be the center of all they do!

My first outreach day!

Today we went to a local tribal village about 45 minutes away and did our outreach program. Which we go and do every Friday. Seeing four different villages a month. We go and give the woman a informative lecture and then proceed to do prenatal checkups, give the women prenatal vitamins, and pray with them. It is very hard to see so many woman with young children (some of which had no clothes on) in such hard circumstances. Many of the children were crying while we were there (this is mostly due to our white skin). I never thought of myself as being scary looking, but apparently I can be (next time we go maybe I will brush my hair first!) The drive there and back is positively gorgeous. There are so many rice fields which are beautifully engineered. They just harvested a few weeks ago and so they are pretty barren, but some parts they have already planted again. And so every so often you see some spots of sprouted rice, and it is the most vibrant green and reminds one of wheat grass. Once back to the maternity center we had lunch and proceeded to our afternoon of rest. Which has been quite a lovely thing. I am getting over the jet lag, but I'm not quite there yet!

I'm finally here!

And so i have made it to my destination in Tabuk. And lets just say the journey here was...different. The driving in Manila.....well....there were really four lanes but there were six rows of cars, and motorcycles in between! I'll leave the rest up to your imagination. The plane ride was gorgeous, we flew over the Kalinga mountains. We arrived at the smallest airport I ever have seen (the photo shows the entire extent of the airport. It is looking out from a little building the size of a small barn. This is the plane I came in on.)The ride from Tuegagarao was the winedyest road that has ever existed! And the entire trip was through the Kalinga mountains and oh but it is beautiful! The country here is so beautiful! The Abundant Grace of God Maternity center is located in a peninsula sorounded by rice fields and the Kalinga mountains! I went for a walk this afternoon with some of the ladies here and met some of the locals at the food market, in the neighborhood, and in the rice fields. There are animals loose everywhere. From goats and chickens to water buffalo and dogs the streets are frequented by them. In fact when walking through the rice fields we came upon a water buffalo and her calf....she proceeded to charge at us. We decided to take an alternate route and leave her be!

On a somewhat comical note: I seriously haven't had to use the restroom all day. All the water I drink goes straight out my skin. I have probably sweated more today than with an entire week of P90X! In other words it is excruciatingly hot!

And thus my journey begins. I arrived in Manila late Tuesday evening after a three hour flight from Seoul, South Korea and after being on one of the longest flights known unto man. After the thirteen hours from Atlanta to Seoul I was exhausted, in need of food, and had terribly swollen ankles. After searching through the most enormous airport I have ever seen (which had a subway system in it) I finally found a money exchange counter and got some Korean money and some Korean nourishment. It was delicious! (this pic is for you Tucky! J) Being a holistic nut and and studying to be an herbalist I have brought multiple herbs and essential oils to use during my stay. And so once I was situated in my hotel I began rigorously applying lavender to my ankles, thyme to the toilet seat, and inhaling lavender and geranium to help me with jet lag and sleep.

Wednesday I mostly tried to stay awake and was constantly inhaling peppermint and eucalyptus and applying grapefruit to my neck. It must have worked wonders, because I managed to stay awake until 10pm. At which point I proceeded to try and sleep. Sleep can be a beautiful thing when peaceful and intent. Or it can be a trial; a constant struggle to be or at least appear to be at rest. For when the body is not able it is not so much a refreshing experience as it is exhausting and work. Making yourself enter into a peaceable slumber is not possible. You can be uneasy or awake and yet asleep. Waking yourself up because it is not the correct time to sleep and then making yourself return to the place in which your body is rebelling is so very difficult and in the end gives you not the intended result. Hopefully at the next time when I should be sleeping my body will be so exhausted that it will finally oblige me in my endeavour. I feel as though I have had three or five naps over the past 72 hours.

I will be leaving shortly to get on a plane yet again, which will take me on an hour flight to Tuguegarao and there will I get an hour ride to my final destination: Tabuk!